Gazette fileThe FDA is collaborating with the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health and the Indiana State Health Department to investigate the outbreak of campylobacteriosis.Do a Google search for the Family Farm Cooperative in Vandalia and the top listing likely will be the law firm advertising for clients who wish to sue the place.

That was the case Thursday, as the Cass County farm is once again embroiled in a controversy over the unpasteurized milk it provides its members.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday it has joined state health departments in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana to alert consumers to an outbreak of campylobacter, a nasty diarrhea-and-fever producing illness, which it believes is associated with consumption of milk originating from Forest Grove Dairy in Middlebury, Ind., and distributed by Family Farm Cooperative.

"Since March 1, 24 people in southeastern Michigan who have drunk milk from that dairy have fallen ill," said James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, which issued the first public health alert March 19.

A dozen sick people thus far have tested positive for campylobacter, a common bacterial contaminant that is one of several germs knocked out of milk by the heating process known as pasteurization, McCurtis said. No one has been hospitalized.

MILK FACTS

Raw, unpasteurized milk cannot be sold legally in Michigan stores. It is not regulated in any way by the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
People who want access to raw, unpasteurized milk can buy “herd shares,” partial ownership in dairies. For a membership fee and a cost-per-gallon handling fee, they can share in the raw milk produced by the herd.

“I don’t agree (the disease outbreak) has been linked to the milk,” said Stephen Bemis, the farm’s attorney. “That’s what the health department has said, but they are not sharing with us what their investigation has shown.

“We know there has been flu going around,” Bemis said, “and we know people who never drank this or any raw milk who were sick.”

Suspect product

Only milk that has been pasteurized is legal for sale in Michigan grocery stores.

That’s because pasteurization is the accepted way to assure that milk doesn’t carry with it campylobacter or other germs that can enter the milk of healthy cows when a bit of tainted hair, bedding or soil gets into the milk, usually during milking, said Ron Erskine, professor of large animal clinical sciences at Michigan State University. Contamination is possible after pasteurization, too, which is why dairies that sell milk are under such strict sanitation guidelines mandated by the Food and Drug Administration, Erskine said.

But Family Farm Cooperative isn’t regulated by the state at all, because it doesn’t sell its raw milk, exactly. It is one of half a dozen dairies in southwestern Michigan — many more, statewide — that allow people to buy a “share” of the herd, and that partial ownership allows them to legally procure raw, unpasteurized milk from the cows.

Fans of raw milk say they gladly forgo pasteurization and pay an annual “herd share” fee and the equivalent of up to $8 a gallon in exchange for the opportunity to drink milk straight from a cow.

Doctors and public health officials who oppose the practice of drinking milk without killing off contaminants first say there are no documented health benefits to humans drinking unpasteurized cow’s milk.

“Drink milk that isn’t pasteurized? It’s almost like eating raw poultry,” McCurtis said.The FDA reports that from 1998 to 2008, there were 85 outbreaks of illness linked to raw milk consumption, affecting 1,614 people and resulting in 187 hospitalizations and 2 deaths.

It’s not just about pasteurization

But the raw milk argument extends beyond the risk of germs to broader issues of animal husbandry and health, and the legal rights of people to eat what they choose.

In October of 2006, Richard Hebron, who runs the cooperative involved in this month’s health investigation, was pulled over by state police. Businessweek magazine described how Hebron was stopped, served with a search warrant and agents began removing goods from his truck. In addition, agents went to his home, served a search warrant and removed records.

The 2006 case involving Hebron ended a year later with the state agreeing that he could continue to distribute raw milk to cooperative members who have herd share lease agreements. He has continued to do that until this month, when he voluntarily suspended two deliveries while investigating the case of illness reported March 1 by one of his members, said Bemis, an Ann Arbor-area attorney who represents the farm at no charge.

True link? Or harassment?

Bemis said the farm was contacted March 1 by one of its herd share members who had fallen ill. The next day, 200 more cooperative members were contacted and advised of the situation; although a few other members described flu-like symptoms, “there was no huge smoking gun" until March 11, when a member reported being ill and testing positive for the campylobacter bacteria, Bemis said.

The farm's own tests of milk and water showed no detectable levels of campylobacter, and milk delivery resumed.

The cooperative is conducting a detailed survey of the herd share members who consumed the milk, Bemis said. But at this point "based on the testing we'e done, we don't see a link."

So far this year 165 cases of campylobacter illness have been reported to the Michigan Department of Community Health, McCurtis said. The bacteria can be spread from contact with feces from infected pets, contact with infected farm animals, and contaminated foods other than milk, he said.

McCurtis said that in this outbreak, though, milk is the "common denominator" among people reporting the illness in southeast Michigan.

Neither the health department nor any other state agency, to his knowledge, has yet tested the farm itself or examined its milk handling practices. The Michigan Department of Agriculture doesn’t regulate herd share programs in any way, said Jennifer Holton, MDA public information officer.

FDA officials would not reveal details of an investigation still in its early stages, said FDA spokesperson Siobhan DeLancey.

Proponents of raw milk and other agricultural products produced outside of mainstream commercial agriculture mistrust the motives of government agencies, and believe regulatory standards may be skewed to favor large farms and drive smaller operations out of business.

Phil Howard, assistant professor of community food and agriculture at Michigan State University, has studied the impact of regulation on the diversity of agriculture. Although he would not address the current raw milk issue, Howard said “the big picture is that regulations, whether intended or not, can be implemented in a way that benefits bigger industries rather than small.

“It takes a much lower level of proof to raise the alarm about something, like raw milk, when regulators are already opposed to the product,” Howard said. He said similar health alerts about other products, such as tomatoes and spinach, have had “devastating financial consequences” for farmers.

Safety regulations can end up driving smaller operations out of business, without adding to the safety of a product, he said. “It may make the issue worse, because if something does go wrong, the problem is larger,” if the only suppliers left are large, commercial producers, he said.

So, “Do governments sit back and let people get sick or do we warn people that raw milk does pose risk?" McCurtis asked. “When should state agencies back off? Right now we have 24 cases related to the outbreak, of those 12 were confirmed.

“No matter what we tell people about the risks there will be people who drink (raw milk) and that’s their right,” McCurtis said. “But our job is to protect the people of Michigan, to tell people when there is an outbreak, and that these are the symptoms.”